Why Steph Curry is primed for New Year’s eve explosion against hometown Hornets
CHARLOTTE – It is a scene witnessed in almost every NBA city the Warriors visit: fans arriving hours before tipoff and congregating in the lower bowl to gawk at Steph Curry’s legendary shooting routine before begging him for a signature or picture.
Curry almost always obliges, but it may be difficult for him to accommodate all requests at the final stop of the Warriors’ last road trip of 2025, an early game that will tip off at 10 A.M PST.
The Warriors will visit Curry’s hometown of Charlotte, also located a half-hour away from Davidson College.
On the day before New Year, Curry’s admirers will likely outnumber supporters of the lowly Hornets by a considerable margin. Including, for at least one game, in the Hornets broadcast booth, where father Dell Curry will provide television commentary.
It is one of the few road games the superstar considers a special occasion.
“I know when I go to Charlotte and see my family, and I know when I go to Toronto … so I circle those dates at the end of December,” Curry said this summer at his yearly golf tournament.
Adding to the New Year’s Eve festivities is that his younger brother, Seth – though inactive while dealing with sciatica – will now make the trip with the Warriors.
But while this homecoming usually results in a Warriors victory (8-4 record in Charlotte), signature Curry flurries are usually replaced with excellent but unspectacular outings.
Curry averages 27.3 points per game in 12 games in North Carolina’s largest city, a number that would be the envy of the vast majority of his NBA peers. But he has also not had a 40-point game in Spectrum Center since dropping exactly that amount during his MVP season in 2015-16.
But after almost a decade since that night, when he hit eight 3-pointers in a 116-99 victory, Curry is primed to have a huge game against the Hornets.
Charlotte is 11-20 and 12th in the Eastern Conference, and defense is the major reason why. The Hornets are bottom-third in the league in points allowed per game (118.5), rank near the bottom in defensive rating (118.7), and, most notably for the 3-point-happy Warriors, allow the worst accuracy mark from behind the arc (38.4) in the NBA.
One look at the Hornets’ perimeter personnel explains the poor numbers on that side of the ball.
The creative LaMelo Ball, along with Kon Knueppel, Collin Sexton and Tre Mann are all gifted scorers and offensive forces, but nobody is mistaking them for members of the 2004 Pistons.
Facing them is a version of Steph Curry who is playing at an All-NBA level despite being a few months from turning 38.
Curry is pacing the NBA in 3-point shots made per game at 4.8 and is still dropping in a healthy 39% on 12.2 attempts a night from behind the arc.
He has scored at least 35 points in eight games, and is tied with former Hornets owner Michael Jordan for the most 40-point games (44) by a player after turning 30.
After celebrating the new year on the East Coast, the Warriors will travel back to the Bay Area and take on the defending champion Thunder on Jan. 2.